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Friday, February 16, 2007
Information on Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
See this link for information on CRPS - formerly known as RSD:Labels: CRPS, injuries, pain, RSD, trauma
Airbags can cause hearing loss
National News Car Airbags Can Cause Permanent Hearing Loss, Study Says February 14, 2007 A researcher at a national hearing conference will present data that predicts 17 percent of people exposed to deployed airbags in American cars will suffer from permanent hearing loss. His data also shows, contrary to what experts have previously thought, airbag deployment is more hazardous to the ear when a car's windows are rolled down. These are among the results that will be presented by auditory physiologist Dr. G. Richard Price at the National Hearing Conservation Association's 32nd annual hearing conference. The conference, titled, "A Passion to Preserve," will be held Feb. 15-17 at the Hyatt Regency in Savannah, Ga. In Price's study of car airbag deployment, he sought to determine whether the auditory danger was greatest in cars with the windows down or the windows up. Previously, experts thought rolled-up windows were more dangerous because they allow for higher pressure to be created inside the cabin. The research concludes, counterintuitively, that having car windows rolled up when airbags are deployed is actually less hazardous to the ear than rolled-down windows. This is because the higher pressure generated in the closed cabin actually prevents greater damage to the ear. The pressure causes a displacement in the middle ear that stiffens the stapes, a small bone outside the inner ear. This stiffening limits the transmission of energy to the inner ear, where hearing damage takes place. In airbag experiments where the cabin is completely sealed and pressure is even higher, hearing damage is reduced even further. Price's study only included cars sold in the United States with front and side airbags. Under U.S. regulations, American cars must have larger, more powerful airbags than cars sold in places like Europe. Cars with smaller airbags sold in other parts of the world would likely pose less auditory danger when tested under identical circumstances, Price said. "We often consider only the benefits of safety technology, rather than the unfortunate potential side effects," said NHCA Director of Education Brian Fligor. "This type of study highlights how common everyday occurrences present a very real hazard to our hearing." Find this article at: http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2007/02/14/76958.htm Labels: auto wreck injuries, car wreck, health, product
Spinal cord victims put on fashion show
This recent event shows folks making the most of life.
http://www.comcast.net/providers/fan/popup.html?v=178842369&config=/config/common/fan/news.xml&pl=cbsfannews.xmlLabels: spinal cord victims
Thursday, February 8, 2007
MARTA loses negligent security lawsuit
An article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution shows what can happen when a defendant in a injury lawsuit destroys evidence.
Jurors award woman $1.7M in MARTA rape
By BETH WARREN, PAUL DONSKY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/08/07
Jurors hit MARTA with a $1.7 million judgment Wednesday for a grandmother who was raped after being kidnapped from a parking garage at the MARTA Lindbergh station in Buckhead in June 2002.
The woman filed a civil suit against MARTA, contending that the transit agency had not properly secured its property.
But in an unusual court move, Fulton County Judge Craig Schwall on Tuesday blocked MARTA attorneys from mounting much of a defense. Jurors only had to settle on the amount the transit agency should pay.
Schwall said MARTA officials hadn't played fair with the woman's attorneys in the years leading up to the trial. He lashed out at the transit agency for not being able to produce documents to back up their claim that there were plenty of officers on duty the night the woman was abducted from the Buckhead parking deck.
"I will tell you it's a very brazen, intentional, deceitful act on the part of MARTA," Schwall said.
MARTA officials say they tossed out all police records from 2002, the year the woman was kidnapped, that would indicate how many officers were on duty the night of the crime and where they were posted.
They threw out the records because they moved their police precinct and didn't want to take old documents, MARTA attorney Tom Sampson said.
Sampson was disappointed with the jury's decision, he said, "but not surprised since we did not have an opportunity to present our case."
MARTA has a reserve fund to handle settlements and verdicts up to $5 million, officials said. The transit system's insurance covers anything larger.
MARTA board Chairman Ed Wall said the transit system was not treated fairly by the judge, and he hopes the transit system's attorneys appeal the case.
"He didn't even let us put on our case," Wall said. "It just doesn't seem fair at all. We had a vigorous defense. The only person to blame for that rape is the person who did it."
During a 2003 criminal trial, a Fulton jury convicted Bernard McCoy of rape and kidnapping. He is serving a sentence of life without parole plus 60 years.
Jury foreman Todd Kearney, 46, said the panel of six men and six women debated about six hours, with one juror suggesting an amount that would only cover the victim's medical expenses to others who tossed out a figure of $5 million.
And, at the heart of the case, the rape victim smiled as she left the courtroom, saying: "I'm happy, but this wasn't about the money. It was about security and their duty to the patrons."
The woman is not being named because she is a rape victim.
Outside the courtroom, some jurors lined up to hug the soft-spoken victim and shake hands with attorneys on both sides.
Some jurors lingered in the hallway to make personal pleas urging MARTA to improve its crime-reporting methods.
One juror, Anastasia Pass, 56, said: "There definitely needs to be changes at MARTA in terms of their internal reporting."
Another, Jason Williams, 37, who owns a dog grooming shop, shook hands outside the courtroom with a MARTA assistant police chief, saying: "I have to ask you to improve your internal reporting."
Assistant Chief Carol Johnson replied: "There's nothing wrong with it."Labels: damages, evidence, lawsuit, negligent security, sanctions
Not a good client
This is a really sad story about a father that I hope is mentally ill. Unfortunately it shows how the one in a multi-million exception to the rule gets publicity while the every day working person's loss goes ignored.
Atlanta Father Admits Intentionally Poisoning Children in Attempt to Sue Campbell Soup Co.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
ATLANTA — A man admitted that he tampered with his children's soup in an attempt to get money from Campbell Soup Co., a prosecutor said.
William Allen Cunningham's 3-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter were hospitalized twice in January 2006. He forced them first to eat soup laced with hot peppers and lighter fluid, and the second time used the prescription drugs Prozac and Amitriptyline — both used to treat depression — to poison the children, authorities said.
Cunningham, 41, pleaded guilty Tuesday to communicating false claims, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said. Under terms of a plea agreement, he faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced April 19.
"He admitted that he put potentially life-threatening foreign substances into soup, which he fed to his two young children and then placed a call to Campbell Soup Co. falsely claiming that the soup had been contaminated," Nahmias said.
According to prosecutors, Cunningham called Campbell and threatened to sue. Authorities say there was no evidence the soup was tainted when it was bought.Labels: child safety, frivilous lawsuit claim personal injury
Safety a big problem for some truck companies
A tractor-trailer with one working brake?!
By SUSAN GAST | Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 07:13 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tractor-trailers frighten me. I’m sure they scare any reasonably sane driver.
I know they are vital to our economy. I’ve heard the arguments that truck drivers on average are safer than other motorists. Seeing how other vehicles maneuver, I even believe it.
But Atlanta traffic leaves little margin for error, and if an error occurs, I prefer not to be snuggled up to 10,000-plus pounds of moving metal.
So I was interested to find out that Snellville has a program focused on improper trucks traveling through the city.
I saw the new, white Snellville Police Department pickup a few days ago on U.S. 78, where it had pulled over a truck.
I wondered - for a second - why Snellville would need such a program. Then I recalled the accident a few years ago in which a tractor-trailer ran a red light on U.S. 78 and hit a car only a few feet away from me. Amazingly the man driving the car survived. My nerves, however, hardly recovered.
Snellville has been seeing a large volume of truck traffic and a significant number of truck-related accidents, said Snellville Police Chief Roy Whitehead. The chief also was tipped off that tractor-trailers often use Ga. 124 and U.S. 78 as part of a cut-through to bypass weigh stations on the interstates.
Truck traffic could become an even greater concern with construction to begin this year on U.S. 78 improvements, the chief said. Lanes will become tighter, providing less elbow room.
These concerns prompted Snellville to approve the program, which has been in force since October. It’s a partnership between the city and the Georgia Department of Public Safety’s Motor Carrier Compliance Division.
The officer assigned to the project is a certified commercial vehicle inspector and has performed about 30 to 40 truck inspections per month. Out of those, about 20 to 25 trucks or drivers have been put out of service until violations were corrected, Whitehead said.
“It’s been very successful,” he said.
For example, one tractor-trailer was found to have only one working brake.
I’m sorry; I need to repeat that.
One tractor-trailer - traveling through Snellville - was found to have only one working brake!
Others had oversized loads or their loads were not secured properly, Whitehead said. Assorted other violations also were found.
The new city vehicle used for enforcement is specially equipped, including having portable scales to weigh tractor-trailers on the spot. The total cost for the enforcement truck, scales and equipment was $40,000, which was paid with Snellville’s money from the Special Local Option Sales Tax.
Snellville is not the only one checking out large truck traffic in this way. Gwinnett County Police has two of the inspection units. According to the state, Cobb County, DeKalb County, Powder Springs and Marietta also are involved.
And Alpharetta and Austell are participating as well, Whitehead said.
“But there are very few cities actually involved in this project so far,” he said.
Are tractor-trailers a problem where you live?Labels: tractor trailers, trucking, trucks safety prevent injuries
Higher speeding fines in Georgia?
I hope the proposed law described in a recent Atlanta Journal Constitution article goes through. Its likely to save lives.
Governor turns his radar on speeders
Higher fines proposed to pay for trauma centers
By James Salzer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/10/07
Gov. Sonny Perdue wants Georgia drivers to do something he admits has sometimes has trouble doing himself: slow down behind the wheel.
Staffers said Tuesday that Perdue's legislative leaders will push a proposal to raise fines and other penalties against drivers pulled over for exceeding 85 mph on any Georgia road and 75 mph on two-lane highways. They said the legislation would also increase fines and penalties for habitual traffic offenders, such as those with multiple drunken driving or reckless driving offenses.
Perdue officials didn't provide details of the proposed level of fines and penalties. That will be released in coming weeks, when the legislation is filed.
Part of the goal is to raise money for a more extensive trauma system to treat emergency cases, such as people hurt in car wrecks.
Perdue, speaking to about 2,000 business and political leaders attending the Georgia Chamber of Commerce's annual Eggs & Issues Breakfast on Tuesday, said Atlanta drivers are among the fastest in the country. And he said that's causing problems.
The governor said 20 percent of the state's 1,744 traffic fatalities in 2005 were due to excessive speed. Treating trauma victims costs $7.85 billion per year. And accidents further clog Atlanta's overburdened highways.
"Accidents caused by excessive speed and aggressive driving are not just affecting congestion and causing traffic jams —- they are killing people.
"We've got to stop the excessive speeding," Perdue added.
Perdue acknowledged he's not immune to lead-footing it a bit on the highway. The governor is driven to public events, but he still drives himself around at other times, his staff said.
A legislative study committee has been searching for a way to pay for more trauma centers capable of handling the most severe injuries.
With only 15 such centers spread across the state, it can sometimes take hours for accident victims in rural areas to reach one, according to the committee's report.
Meanwhile, two-thirds of Georgia's 152 hospitals are operating in the red, the report says. They are sustaining financial losses from uninsured or under-insured patients and decreasing Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates. Georgia absorbs an estimated $170 million in uncompensated trauma care annually, the report says.
"The bill to fully fund trauma centers for a state our size is going to be between $80 million and $85 million each year," said Sen. Cecil Staton (R-Macon), chairman of the trauma center study committee.
"Obviously, one viable option is to place the cost of these trauma centers on those who engage in reckless behavior —- including those who disobey the speed limit laws in this state and those who drive under the influence of drugs and alcohol on our interstates and highways."
Larry Schnall, senior trooper and spokesman for the Georgia State Patrol, said his agency backs the governor's initiative.
"We support anything that helps us reduce serious crashes," Schnall said. "We think it's a good attention-getter to go along with our enforcement efforts."
In a 2003 study of six states, metro Atlanta had the highest speeds clocked. The study, done for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, reported that 78 percent of the Atlanta vehicles on interstates were moving faster than 70 mph, and 18 percent exceeded 80 mph. The mean speed in the study was 75.
Those driving on rural interstates in Georgia did not fare much better. On one highway, 68 percent of motorists were going faster than 70 and 20 percent were going more than 80 mph.
Ron Moore, 78, a former Rockdale County long-distance trucker who retired to Eatonton in Middle Georgia, said he thinks the governor's plan is a good idea.
"I think it's the smartest thing he could do. High speed is a killer," he said. "People just don't realize a split second can take a life."
Moore said he remembers seeing high-speed drivers have to swerve into emergency lanes to avoid slower moving traffic when he was a trucker. Such scenes are not uncommon these days on I-75, I-85 and Ga. 400.
Higher fines might help slow things down, Moore said.
"When you get into a man's pocket book, he'll pay attention," he said.
Warning! Jury Duty Scam in Georgia
Recently, I was made aware of people calling Georgians to mine for personal information under the pretext of jury duty.
This message is being forwarded from the Technology Office of the Georgia
> General Assembly. Please take heed.
>
> Rep. Virgil Fludd
>
>
>
> From: Henry, Scott
> Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 9:26 AM
> To: All Users
> Subject: Identity Theft
> Greetings everyone,
>
> We typically do not send out scam warnings however one of our users fell
> prey to this particular one yesterday. The unfortunate user has had to
> place fraud warnings on all of her credit cards and close accounts because
> of it so I thought we best let everyone know.
>
> The local FBI office said this was the first occurrence in Georgia so
> please have a look at it.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Scott
>
> _______________________
>
> "JURY DUTY SCAM:
>
> This has been verified on Snopes.com (link listed below) and by the FBI
> (their link is also included below).
>
> Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is
> spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us take
> those summons for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their
> civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of scam has surfaced.
>
> Fall for it and your identity could be stolen, reports CBS. In this con,
> someone calls pretending to be a court official who threateningly says a
> warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn't show up for
> jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you
> never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your
> Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the
> information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this
> information and bingo! Your identity just got stolen.
>
> The scam has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma ,
> Illinois , and Colorado . This (scam) is particularly insidious because
> they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving
> information by pretending they're with the court system. The FBI and the
> federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites,
> warning consumers about the fraud.
>
> Check it out here:
> http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
> http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel05/092805.htm "
>
>
>
>
> Scott M. Henry
> Director of Information Technology,
> Georgia General Assembly
> scott.henry@legis.ga.gov
> v 404-657-4580
> f 404-657-0674
>
> (Embedded image moved to file: pic31006.gif)
>
> (See attached file: pic31006.gif)Labels: Jury Duty, Scam, Warning
Anderson Cooper on car wrecks & Allstate
COOPER: Traffic accidents, of course, are a fact of life. So is dealing with
insurance companies. You pay them to protect you. That's the idea. But some
accident victims say they're being forced to settle or go to court because
the claims are denied.
We wanted to know the facts, and in a CNN investigation, we looked into
whether some big name insurers are more interested in profit than
policyholders.
CNN's Drew Griffin tonight, keeping them honest.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I happened in Santa Fe, New
Mexico, much the way Allstate describes it in its commercials.
Roxanne Martinez, driving down Sorios (ph) Road about noon, when the SUV
pulled out from Tisuki (ph) Drive.
ROXANNE MARTINEZ, ACCIDENT VICTIM: I remember, you know, like hitting the
driver's side window. And then I just -- I don't know.
GRIFIN: The passenger side had been sideswiped. On the driver's side,
Roxanne was smashed against the window.
MARTINEZ: I had upper back pain. I went to chiropractors, physical
therapists, massage therapists, acupuncture. They told me that my spine was
damaged. GRIFFIN: The person driving the SUV that hit Martinez was ticketed
and had insurance, Allstate. That was good because Martinez was racking up
bills, plenty of them, CT scans, doctors visits, x- rays, all bills she
thought Allstate would cover.
But after three years of fighting over bills and still hurting from the
accident, Allstate came with a "take it or leave it offer," $15,000.
MARTINEZ: That was for, I guess, the car, medical. I mean, that was
everything. You know, I thought they'd pay all your bills and, you know,
keep on paying your medical bills.
GRIFFIN: Roxanne Martinez was battling Allstate, the second biggest auto
insurer in the nation. What she didn't know was that both Allstate and the
largest auto insurer State Farm, had changed the way they handled so-called
minor crashes like hers.
(On camera): In an 18-month investigation across the country, CNN found that
if you are injured in a minor accident, chances are high the two companies
would challenge your medical claim, offering you barely a fraction of your
expenses.
(Voice-over): They would do it by forcing people into court, dragging out
court cases for years and by convincing the public it was all designed to
fight growing fraud in the car accident business.
But documents examined by CNN indicate the motive was profit. And Allstate
has gone to great lengths to keep those documents secret. In two states
where Allstate has been sued, the company has defied judge's orders to make
the documents public.
According to Nevada Insurance Law Professor Jeff Stempel, the new get tough
strategy is adding up to billions in profit for the insurance companies and
little, if anything, for the public.
JEFF STEMPEL, UNLV. LAW PROFESSOR: We can see that policyholders
individually are getting hurt by being dragged into court on fender bender
claims. And yet we don't see collateral benefit in the form of reduced
premiums, even for the other policyholders. So, I think now we can say to
continue this kind of program is, in my view, institutionalized bad faith.
GRIFFIN (on camera): We wanted to ask Allstate and State Farm all about this
on camera in an interview, but they both said no. Allstate did send us an
e-mail.
(Voice-over): In an e-mail, All State told us it did not believe it would
have any real opportunity of being successful in getting CNN to do a
balanced report.
State Farm sent an e-mail, too, saying, "we take customer service seriously
and seek to pay what we owe, promptly, courteously and efficiently, and we
handle each claim on its own merits."
And State Farm also added this -- "Any attempt to generalize that State Farm
has adopted consultant recommendations as other insurers is just plain
wrong. Who is the consultant State Farm refers to? The giant of the
consulting industry, McKinsey & Company, hired by both State Farm and
Allstate.
McKinsey and company said it does not discuss any of its clients' business.
And at the same time Roxanne Martinez thought she was in good hands with
Allstate, Allstate was advised by McKinsey in writing to put boxing gloves
on those good hands.
That strategy, says Martinez's lawyer, was to take valid claims and pay
pennies on the dollar.
Attorney David Berardinelli's has written a bout about it, and is
challenging Allstate's strategy in what he hopes will be a class action
lawsuit.
(On camera): So if you wanted to increase profit, you would try to chop the
small claim?
DAVID BERARDINELLI, ATTORNEY: Sure. If you could take $1,000 off of a
million claims, do the math.
GRIFFIN: A lot of money.
BERNARDINELLI: A lot of money.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Shannon Kmatz was an Allstate claims agent in New
Mexico before she became a cop. She says she was trained by Allstate to
treat most minor accident victims as frauds and offer them as little as
possible.
SHANNON KMATZ, FORMER ALLSTATE CLAIMS AGENT: $100? Yes, I've offered people
$50. They have minimal damage to the back of their vehicle and they're
claiming that they are hurt.
GRIFFIN: Then Kmatz got to see the insurance strategy firsthand from the
other side.
KMATZ: I turn around and get in a car accident myself. My car has minimal
damage, and I can't walk. And I realized, whoa, what am I doing? This is not
right.
JIM MATHIS: It really came down to three basic elements. A position of
delay. A position of denying a claim. And then ultimately, of course,
defending that claim that you denied.
GRIFFEN: The three D's?
JIM MATHIS: Exactly.
GRIFFIN: Jim Mathis is a former insurance company insider who now testifies
against insurance companies in court.
MATHIS: And the profits are huge. Profits are good. And as long as the
public allows this to occur, the insurance companies will get richer and
people will not get a fair and reasonable settlement, period.
ROBERT HARTWIG, PRES. INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE: Insurers don't
blanket deny claims on any grounds whatsoever.
GRIFFIN: Robert Hartwig is president of the Insurance Information Institute,
an insurance industry trade group.
HARTWIG: What insurers are trying to do is monitor costs. And every insurer
is under the same pressure to do it.
GRIFFIN (on camera): And this Allstate training manual obtained by CNN
details how that was going to be done. By forcing what the manual calls
smaller walk away settlements.
(Voice-over): The walk away settlement for Roxanne Martinez was a "take it
or leave it offer" of $15,000 that came three years after her accident. She
said that would pay a little more than half of her costs.
MARTINEZ: It's kind of hard when you're thinking, are they going to leave me
broke? Or you know what? I mean, that's what -- that was very stressful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: But Roxanne Martinez decided that instead of taking Allstate's
offer, she would take Allstate to court. We'll tell you what can happen if
you take an insurance company to court, next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Before the break, we introduced you to a woman who said she was
dragged through the ringer by car insurance giant Allstate. She said that
Allstate wanted her to settle for thousands of dollars less than what she
was entitled to. She refused the deal they offered her and went to court.
And that's where she says the battle got even tougher. Her case is not an
isolated one, however. As our reporting reveals, accident victims across the
country are fighting back against the insurance companies they thought would
protect them.
Once again CNN's Drew Griffin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN (voice-over): When Ann Taylor's car was rear ended...
ANN TAYLOR, ACCIDENT VICTIM: I woke up the next morning, I couldn't move. I
had severe pain in my back. Down both legs were numb and tingly.
GRIFFIN: The doctor diagnosed herniated disk muscle tears. And the treatment
would mean time off work, therapy and medical bills. The person who hit her
was a State Farm employee driving a State Farm car. So Taylor thought at
least financially she'd be covered. It added up, said Taylor, to $15,000.
But after dragging out her claim, State Farm offered her only $2,000.
TAYLOR: I was just very insulted.
GRIFFIN: Taylor hired Attorney Jeff Cook and decided she would fight. It
turned into a major legal battle eventually ending up in this courtroom.
Taylor's case is an example of how the two largest auto insurance companies,
State Farm and Allstate, have changed the way they handle claims when people
are hurt in minor impact crashes.
CNN's investigation reveals a strategy to increase profits by limiting
payments to accident victims. And former insurance insiders say most of the
industry has adopted the strategy. Allstate and State Farm, the industry
leaders, would not talk to CNN for this report.
But Jim Mathis, a former insurance company insider, who now testifies
against the insurance business in court, did. And he says cutting payments
to people like Taylor has meant billions for the insurance companies.
MATHIS: It's not based on what should be a settlement value or offer to this
claim. It is not based on ethics. It's based on -- it's not based on
profits. It's based on how much profit.
GRIFFIN: Taylor's case finally got to court three years after her accident.
The lawyer brought in medical testimony. To present its case, State farm
just dug deep into Ann Taylor's past.
JEFFREY COOKE, TAYLOR'S ATTORNEY: The lawyer stands up and says to Ann
Taylor during her cross-examination, tell the jury about your back injury
when you were 16 years old.
GRIFFIN: In fact, the attorney for State Farm raised questions about Ann
Taylor falling off a horse when she was in high school. And the lawyer also
asked Taylor, a nurse, about throwing out her back when she moved a patient.
(On camera): The attorney even brought up personal things that Ann Taylor
had to sell a horse, that Ann Taylor had to sell her house, that Ann Taylor
had even broken up with a longtime boyfriend. And couldn't all these things
add to stress and that could have caused her back pain?
TAYLOR: They didn't have any expert testimony. They never had a physician
look at me.
GRIFFIN: They tried to make you out to be a liar.
TAYLOR: Exactly. GRIFFIN (voice-over): The attorney for State Farm did
produce one piece of evidence -- very large photos of two slightly damaged
cars.
TAYLOR: They expected the jury to see those and to say, she really wasn't
hurt.
GRIFFIN: Michael Freeman is a crash expert, often called in to testify when
insurance companies are trying to use photos to deny a crash victim was
injured.
How did the insurance companies use photos? Well, take a look at a photo of
a car with minimal damage, he says, and convince the jury what they probably
were already thinking. That doesn't look like much. How could that person be
hurt?
MICHAEL FREEMAN, FORENSIC EPIDEMIOLOGIST: You're eventually being judged by
what your car looks like, not by what your doctor says. Or by what the
impact of a particular crash has had or an injury has had on your life.
That's not fair. It's not right. It's fraud.
GRIFFIN: What stunned Taylor in the end is that State Farm's strategy
worked. The jury didn't believe she was hurt. They awarded her just $1,500,
less than what State Farm originally offered.
We contacted three of the jurors. They said this photo played a big part in
their verdict. And they thought the insurance company had already paid its
share and Taylor was only trying to get more.
Why did they look at her and must have assumed this lady is trying to rip
off the insurance companies, she's a fraud?
COOKE: When she walked in the courtroom and she walked to the jury box and
she walked to the testimony box and she walked out of the courtroom at lunch
and at the end of a day, they assumed that she was not significantly
injured.
GRIFFIN: It's a case straight out of the McKinsey playbook, the three D's.
By denying her claim, State Farm forced Taylor to hire an attorney and sue.
After a three year delay, Taylor walked into a courtroom with no noticeable
pain. And by defending the case for years, State Farm forced her attorney to
front expensive litigation costs, which in the end, he didn't get back.
FREEMAN: They make these cases so expensive to litigate, that attorneys
won't want to take them.
GRIFFIN: Indianapolis Superior Court Judge David Dreyer says he hears it
from colleagues across the country, courts bogged down with minor impact
cases. He says the insurance companies' own lawyers admit to him they're
being forced to drag the cases out.
JUDGE DAVID DREYER, INDIANAPOLIS SUPERIOR COURT: They've confided to me that
they would rather settle a case and that they aren't allowed to settle by
the insurance companies that of course control the defense.
GRIFFIN: It's a strategy spelled out in this affidavit from a former
Allstate attorney in a lawsuit against Allstate. She explains how 10 years
ago the insurance giant was changing the way it did business, driving
lawyers out.
The former Allstate attorney says Allstate's strategy was to make fighting
the company, quote, "so expensive and so time-consuming that lawyers would
start refusing to help clients." The president of the Insurance Information
Institute says the change was need.
HARTWIG: We have a group of attorneys, quite frankly, who are very upset
because, guess what, the gravy train has ended.
MARTINEZ: She had like taken off the other way.
GRIFFIN: Remember Roxanne Martinez from the beginning of our investigation?
She was sideswiped and Allstate offered her $15,000 to cover her medical
bills and lost wages. Her case also dragged on for years.
But after listening to what her lawyer said was a deliberate attempt to drag
Martinez through the ringer, her jury awarded $167,000 plus interest.
MARTINEZ: You know, I was happy. I thought, well, you know, all my bills are
getting paid.
GRIFFIN: Industry insiders say 80 percent to 90 percent of accident victims
don't fight. They take what the insurance company offers.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Interesting. You might think all the savings would mean lower
premiums for drivers. Well, guess again. The Insurance Information Institute
says auto insurance rates have actually gone up 30 percent over the 10 years
since this went into effect. The president of that institute told us rates
would actually be much higher if the companies hadn't cracked down on fraud.
How much you pay per year on car insurance depends on where you live in many
cases. Here's the raw data. Last year the five cities with the most
expensive auto insurance rates were Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, New York
and Los Angeles. The least expensive city was Roanoke at just over $900,
followed by Chattanooga; Nashville; Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Raleigh, North
CarolinaLabels: Allstate, car wreck, damages, insurance, money
Friday, February 2, 2007
Driving around trucks safely
Below is an important article on driving safely around trucks pulished in the February 2, 2007 Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DRIVER'S ED: Don't let big truck crush you
Some fights you just can't win. Wrestling a bear at the county fair, for instance, is a bad idea, especially if you've had enough adult beverages to think you're 10 feet tall and bulletproof. I don't care if the bear is wearing a muzzle. It's sort of like tugging on Superman's cape while spitting in the wind.
On the highway, tractor-trailer rigs are the bears of the wrestling ring. You just don't want to tangle with them. You'll lose. The car driver is at fault in about 70 percent of fatal car-truck accidents. Here is how to stay out of trouble:
1 Be seen. Big rigs have a big blind spot where cars closing in from behind disappear from view in the mirrors. If the trucker has to make a quick lane change to dodge a ladder in the road, you could get crunched. More than a third of fatal car-truck accidents happen in the blind spot.
The blind spot is biggest on the right side of the truck. It runs the length of the truck and out three lanes. Try to pass on the driver's side. And don't dawdle in the blind spot —- speed up to pass or slow down to the rear of the truck. If you can see the driver's face in the mirrors, he should be able to see you.
2 Hang back. Leave plenty of space between you and the back of a big rig —- 20 car lengths is a good rule of thumb. Make sure you can see the truck's side mirrors. The truck blocks your view of the road. The truck might roll right over that ladder in the road, but if you're too close you won't have time to miss it.
3 Passing. Don't cut it too close when cutting back into the lane when you pass a big rig. A fully loaded tractor-trailer rig might weigh 40 tons. That means it'll take it 100 yards to go from 60 mph to a complete stop. You want some room between your rear bumper and the truck's nose. Make sure you can see the truck's headlights before you cut in front of it.
Ed got his tips from the American Trucking Association.
Ed is a shade-tree mechanic who talks like a dipstick but knows his way around one.Labels: trucks safety prevent injuries
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